StrikeUpdate from Clever Commute:
NJT will NOT cross-honor DeCamp tickets. Purchase your tickets in advance. NOTE: The only time you can buy a NJT train ticket on the train is when you had no other option. What this means: If you board at NYP, Hoboken or anyplace there is a ticket window (or machine), you MUST buy your ticket before boarding — otherwise, its a $5 surcharge.
HEADS UP: Bay Street station now DOES have these machines.
You can reach Conductor Josh here for any strike advice or info.
News from DeCamp and Clever Commute.com confirm a DeCamp bus drivers strike, starting Thursday morning. Here’s what the bus company says in an alert message on it’s web site:
Attention all passengers, effective 5:00 AM Thursday morning, September 2, 2010 the union employees of DeCamp Bus Lines will be on strike. There will be no service. We will keep riders informed as information becomes available.
Let them eat cake….
I am aware that DeCamp Bus Lines has been the subject of many a commuter nightmare; cost, delays, and most of all rudeness (excluding Sal, that is!)
That being said, I’ll relate here a recent story.
Since I typically commutes via the Midtown direct train, I took the 6:00pm #66 from PA for the first time in years. As I feared, he lines were long, snarled, and not easy to discern where they began or ended. I unfortunately stood on wrong line and did not discover so until I handed the driver my ticket. The conversation (if one could call it that) went something like this:
“No good,” I believe he mumbled.
“Pardon?”
“Ticket no good.”
“Where is the line to the #33 to the Bellevue Theatre, please?”
He looked at me as if I asked him something in English. No response. I repeated the question v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.
Without uttering a single word, he tilted his head in the general direction of the gate.
‘Nuff said.
While some bus drivers don’t appear to be very helpful when given the wrong ticket— there are 3 people (at least during rush hour) at Port Authority who’s job I would think it would be to help people find the right bus and sort out the linemash that happens every single day. Instead they actively avoid the customers and hang out in the bus lot or their office. I’m not sure what they do, but it seems like a lot of problems could be solved through them. Directing the bus in and out of parking spots does not need a 3 person crew.
Now I don’t know who all is involved in the strike or why they are striking or what DeCamp’s financial situation is. But whatever the situation is, there seems to be a number of options to pursue.
-Decamp’s Port Authority Crew is under utilized for departures.
-Drivers refuse to use the radios in the morning to communicate effectively. And no… “Rubber Ducky” is not effective communication.
-Some drivers blast full-speed through the morning routes, effectively screwing up the schedule and causing a lot more waiting/standing time for the later stops when the bus comes earlier than expected. Or maybe all the buses are just perpetually late causing the same thing. I can’t really tell and I’m not going to get a friendly answer if I ask what time the driver is supposed to arrive at my stop for reference.
There are several more problems, but I think addressing these 3 issues are zero-cost initiatives that should make riders happier and thus more accepting of moderate fare increases.
As it is with so many other things the DeCamp drivers do, the logic of calling a strike for the week that must have to lowest ridreship volume of the year escapes me.
New blog post: 4 ways to navigate the DeCamp strike
Aren’t they on strike already?
Have you ever taken this bus and their very personable drivers? Let’s say your insane enough to have to call home to let someone know you have missed the train and are taking the bus. Or your kid is sick and you get a call from the school and you are on the bus. The bloated driver will simply pull the bus over until you finish talking. Oh yes, and don’t forget if you get a weekend driver who decides everyone in the bus should sit up towards the front so he doesn’t have to wait so long to let people off. If you don’t move fast enough, the driver will simply move to the next stop as punishment. So I ask again, aren’t they already on strike?
Agreed, mmry111. How can you tell?
Srsly, the week before Labor Day. Not only are they mean and nasty, they’re dumb.
joy is everywhere funiculi funicula
Everybody stands to lose from this strike. Decamp could be forced out of business. Decamp’s 100 employees would be out of jobs. 7000 commuters would be forced to try to ride trains that can’t handle the extra load. Many commuters would lose their jobs and be replaced by New Yorkers who would be paid less. How much are NJT and Decamp employees paid now and what are their benefits? The papers didn’t post that. What are the the drivers asking for and what does the company want? Not in the Ledger or other papers. What will happen if Decamp goes under? Why isn’t any of this in the press? One thing is very clear. The local papers don’t cover the facts, and could care less. Where can we go for the truth?
A DeCamp rider